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ITV Report

8 April 2012 at 5:10am

Fritham's fallen sons

A tiny New Forest village is honouring the four men who lost their lives when the Titanic went down a hundred years ago. The people of Fritham are holding a special church service and exhibition to remember the young men. They'd been persuaded to leave Fritham, where times were tough, to build new lives in Canada.

Three of them were from the same family. Stanley, Lewis and Leonard Hickman hadn't planned to travel on the Titanic. The White Star company upgraded them from another liner. The fourth young man from Fritham to die was just seventeen. Percy Deacon's mother was said to have never recovered from his loss.

They were four of fifteen hundred to die when the unsinkable liner sank in April 1912. Only one of the bodies was shipped for burial but a series of mistakes led to Lewis Hickman being buried as Leonard. The family have since corrected the gravestone at a cemetery in Canada.

The Free Church in the village is staging a weekend exhibition on the anniversary of the Titanic sinking, April 14th and 15th. A memorial service is also being held to ensure their stories are not forgotten.